Bizarre Jason Taylor Quotes

(By Nick Wass - AP)

Several weeks after Jason Taylor's departure, we're now reaching a consensus on exactly what prevented him from staying here for another season, as promised.

Jason Taylor, on the upcoming season: "I'm playing football. I guarantee that. I don't know where it's going to be. It might in Canada, it might be over in Europe somewhere. But I'm playing ball. I have a passion for the game. Everyone questions commitment and all this other crap that's out there and that I left D.C. because I didn't want to work out. That couldn't be further from the truth." (NBC Miami via TWT.)

Ok, maybe not. Here's what Vinny Cerrato told Comcast SportsNet: "I don't think it's fair to the rest of the team...when he's just gonna stay home and not work out. And to me, as you get older, you need to work out and be in a structured environment."

Hmmm. Someone's misunderstanding someone else here. Either that, or we're not all using the same definition of "truth." Or "workout." Or "D.C." And then there's this, when Vinny Cerrato brought up his trade for Taylor last week on ESPN 980:

"Let's go back to the Jason Taylor thing," he said. 'Would I do it again if it was the exact same thing right now? I would say yeah we have to do it, because we're coming off a playoff year. First day, first drill, we lose our starting defensive end, and there happens to be a Pro Bowl defensive end out there. So to give up a two and a six the following year, which was really a seventh in this past draft, made a lot of sense."

"And the other reason I pushed to do it is you know what, when Phillip [Daniels] went down, the air went out of the team. And I remember telling Dan, and Jim, we need to bring some energy, we need to give the guys some confidence. Give them something to feel like, all right, we got a chance again. Because when Phillip went down--leader, starting end--they're like, 'Man.' All right, then when we got Jason, everybody felt good." (980 Audio Vault via the Redskins Blog)

That was from last week's 980 appearance, with the key phrase being "We got a chance again." Phillip Daniels gets injured on the first day of training camp, and you have to trade two draft picks so the guys on the team still feel good, feel like they have a chance, can get some confidence? I mean, all the talking heads seemed in favor, but more for the Redskins to acquire a pass-rushing defensive end, rather than to help the heartbroken team feel like it still had a chance in this cruel, cruel world.

In any case, with Ivan Carter having left The Post for CSN, I'd like to request a trade for Chick Hernandez, so that those of us left behind feel like we still have a chance.